Image::ExifTool::Pentax(3)

NAME
Image::ExifTool::Pentax - Pentax/Asahi maker notes tags

SYNOPSIS
This module is loaded automatically by Image::ExifTool when required.

DESCRIPTION
This module contains definitions required by Image::ExifTool to interpret Pentax and Asahi maker notes in EXIF information.

NOTES
I couldn't find a good source for Pentax maker notes information, but I've managed to discover a fair bit of information by analyzing sample images downloaded from the internet, and through tests with my own Optio WP and K10D, and with help provided by other ExifTool users (see "ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS").

The Pentax maker notes are stored in standard EXIF format, but the offsets used for some of their cameras are wacky. The Optio 330 gives the offset relative to the offset of the tag in the directory, the Optio WP uses a base offset in the middle of nowhere, and the Optio 550 uses different (and totally illogical) bases for different menu entries. Very weird. (It wouldn't surprise me if Pentax can't read their own maker notes!) Luckily, there are only a few entries in the maker notes which are large enough to require offsets, so this doesn't affect much useful information. ExifTool attempts to make sense of this fiasco by making an assumption about where the information should be stored to deduce the correct offsets.

REFERENCES

Image::MakerNotes::Pentax
<http://johnst.org/sw/exiftags/> (Asahi models)
<http://kobe1995.jp/~kaz/astro/istD.html>
<http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/>
(...plus lots of testing with my Optio WP, K10D and K-5!)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Wayne Smith, John Francis, Douglas O'Brien Cvetan Ivanov, Jens Duttke and Dave Nicholson for help figuring out some Pentax tags, Ger Vermeulen and Niels Kristian Bech Jensen for contributing print conversion values for some tags, and everyone who helped contribute to the LensType decoding.

AUTHOR
Copyright 2003-2010, Phil Harvey (phil at owl.phy.queensu.ca)

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO
"Pentax Tags" in Image::ExifTool::TagNames, Image::ExifTool(3pm), Image::Info(3pm)